Let's Get to It (album)
|length = 39:04 |label = |producer = |last_album = |this_album = |next_album = |single_one = |single1date = 28 August 1991 |single_two = |single2date = 21 October 1991 |single_three = |single3date = 13 January 1992 |single_four = |single4date = 13 April 1992 }}Let's Get to It is the fourth studio album by Kylie Minogue, released on 14 October 1991 by PWL Records. Like the majority of her previous recordings, production credits and creations were handled by Stock, Aitken and Waterman, but also featured other writers and producers for the works of the studio album. Critically, the album received mixed reviews from music critics. Most of them noticed a musical and symbolic change towards Kylie's image, but criticized most of the input of the record. Let's Get To It remains Kylie's least successful studio album to date, missing the top ten in both Australia and United Kingdom. Nonetheless, the album was certified gold in Australia. A promotional tour, entitled Let's Get to It Tour managed to have success around Europe. Background and development Club music was the main inspiration for Kylie during the time working on the album. In 1991, Matt Aitken left Stock Aitken Waterman, the long-time record producing trio for Kylie, because he felt he was "burnt out." "People say all our records sound the same, but it came to a point where they started sounding all the same to me," he said. Over the course of the year, Kylie returned to the studio with her remaining producers Mike Stock and Pete Waterman, co-writing six tracks with them. She told Smash Hits a lot of her new songs are "pretty different." "Everything from big band swing stuff to a more soulful kind of thing," the magazine recalls her words. Kylie also suggested that she hoped to find time to do more recording that year. "I may do some more writing in America which may lead to another recording there," she told. During this time, Kylie was fascinated by club music. Although her music was always played in commercial clubs, but the pop element of her earlier works made the "cooler clubs" tend to "frown upon." Kylie then created an alias for herself as "Angel K," set about releasing white label promotional vinyl's of tracks included "Do You Dare" and "Closer", both of the songs later appeared as B-sides on "Give Me Just a Little More Time" and "Finer Feelings", respectively. At this stage, the album was a contractual obligation as the last of four studio albums on her contract, as Kylie remained unsure whether to continue with PWL until after the release of the album's final single "Finer Feelings". Following her release from PWL, she stated that she felt stifled by Stock, Aitken and Waterman, saying, "I was very much a puppet in the beginning. I was blinkered by my record company. I was unable to look left or right." When asked about whether he knew it would be her final studio album with PWL, Waterman said "Yes. I mean in hindsight, we should have actually sold that album before we made it. If I was as brilliant as I’d like to think I could have been I would have had the common sense to say that Kylie had become such a big star she was overshadowing us and killing our creativity and that if we had stepped out at that point, we’d have had to gone back to what we were good at and that was finding new artists and constantly finding new things to do and being completely creative instead of worrying about who was going to pay the rent and all the salaries at the end of the month." Songs Digital Spy's Nick Levine called the album her most "diverse set of songs yet." In Social Theory in Popular Culture, Lee Barron noted her significant musical differences from her "initial formula" of the early works in the album and the previous, Rhythm of Love, with the latter has "a sound even flirting with R&B influences." The first track of the album, "Word Is Out", is a new jack swing and R&B track, with "swingbeat big band sound." "Too Much Of a Good Thing" is a house track which contains interpolations from Janet Jackson's "Control" and "Let the Beat Hit 'Em" by Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam. "If You Were with Me Now" was compared by to "Disney duet balladry." The techno-pop "I Guess I Like It Like That" includes a stadium keyboard part that lays the foundation of the song—which Chris True from AllMusic called it one of album's "noticeable missteps", an interpolation of "I Like It Like That" by Salt-N-Pepa and a sample from "Get Ready for This" by 2 Unlimited. Waterman stated: "I went to bed, and, and I literally was in bed thinking of all these records that I had in my life ... I was going through the library mentally thinking, what song would she never have done that we could do that was just a great song. And one of my favorite songs was Chairman of the Board's 'Give Me Just a Little Mote Time.'" He was working in the middle of the night when he ran downstairs to his record label to find the track. The song was played to Kylie the next morning. Artwork and release The artwork was photographed by German fashion photographer Jürgen Teller. In the cover, she wore a dress which was designed by Nobuhiko Kitamura for Japanese fashion brand Hysteric Glamour, it was described as a mini dress with "stretch lycra, multi-coloured green, yellow pink vanity print, sleeveless, shoe string shoulder straps in same fabric." The dress was later donated to the Cultural Gifts Program of the Arts Centre Melbourne by Kylie herself in 2004. "The album cover will worry fans the most," said Minogue. "I like it, but it's black and white and there are three men with me. You don't realise they're men until you look at it carefully - you think they're just shapes around the edge. You wonder what I'm thinking because I've got this weird expression on my face which people haven't seen before. ... It's going to be interesting to see what people make of the album cover." Chris True from AllMusic said the cover is "kind of creepy." Reception Chris True from AllMusic gave the album two and a half stars, called the album is "certainly as danceable" as her previous work Rhythm of Love but "not her most solid release, but fans of her early work will enjoy it." Joe Sweeney from PopMatters the album's musical styles make it "sound more dated by half than Rhythm of Love." Digital Spy claimed their readers not to let the Stock Aitken Waterman fool them. Nick Griffiths from Select called it "easily her best album", with the "teeny-beat" production has been "superseded by a glossier, more soulful production, rising to the impressive but blatant clubdom 'I Guess I Like It Like That.'" However, he still looked at the album as a "false tease", claimed her music "is still for virgins." Nathan Wood from Foxtel's MaxTV called the album "a musical exploration." Kylie had also received a nomination for Best Female Artist category at the sixth ARIA Music Awards in 1992 for her work on the album. Promotion Singles "Word Is Out" was released as the lead single for the album on 28 August 1991 and was a top twenty hit in the United Kingdom, reaching number sixteen which ended Kylie's run of consecutive top 10 hits. In Australia, with the more laid back Summer Breeze Mix as the main mix, it peaked at number ten, becoming Kylie's tenth single to chart within the top ten. The Summer Breeze Mix received a UK release on a one-sided limited edition 12" vinyl single which had an engraved autograph on the b-side, making it highly collectible for fans. "If You Were with Me Now", the duet with Keith Washington, was released as the second single from the album due to a favourable reaction from radio stations and reached number four in the UK and the top ten in Ireland and South Africa as well as the top thirty in Australia. The song is Kylie's first hit single to feature her as a co-writer. Both Kylie and Washington recorded their vocals at separate times at Stock Aitken and Waterman's studio in London. "Give Me Just a Little More Time" was released as the third single in January 1992; it was one of the last tracks to be recorded for the album. It peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart, assisted by its club-oriented B-side "Do You Dare?" and sold 325,000 copies. "Give Me Just a Little More Time" is the only song from Let's Get to It to be included on Kylie's career-spanning compilation Ultimate Kylie. The final single to be released from the album was "Finer Feelings", which was actually planned as the follow-up to "Word Is Out", but was held back after the release of "If You Were with Me Now". "Finer Feelings" finally appeared in April 1992, remixed by Brothers in Rhythm and narrowly missed out on the top ten, peaking at number eleven on the UK charts. Commercial performance Let's Get to It is Kylie's least successful album to date. After the success of "Give Me Just a Little More Time", which was released in January 1992, the album got back on the chart at number 68 in 11 January then dropped off. Three weeks later, the album went back with number 50 in 1 February. Track listing All songs written by Kylie Minogue, Mike Stock and Pete Waterman and produced by Stock and Waterman, except where noted. Credits adapted from the liner notes of Let's Get to It. | length1 = 3:35 | title2 = Give Me Just a Little More Time | writer2 = | length2 = 3:08 | title3 = Too Much of a Good Thing | note3 = | writer3 = | length3 = 4:24 | title4 = Finer Feelings | writer4 = | length4 = 3:54 | title5 = If You Were with Me Now | note5 = duet with Keith Washington | writer5 = | length5 = 3:11 | title6 = Let's Get to It | writer6 = | length6 = 4:49 | title7 = Right Here, Right Now | note7 = | writer7 = | length7 = 3:52 | title8 = Live and Learn | writer8 = | length8 = 3:15 | title9 = No World Without You | writer9 = | length9 = 2:46 | title10 = I Guess I Like It Like That | note10 = | writer10 = | length10 = 6:00 }} }} }} }} }} }} Notes * The Summer Breeze 7" Edit of "Word Is Out" was used for the Australian release. * "Too Much of a Good Thing" contains an interpolation of "Control" (1986) by Janet Jackson and "Let the Beat Hit 'Em" (1991) by Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam. * "Right Here, Right Now" samples "Are You Gonna Be There" (1991) by Shay Jones. * "I Guess I Like It Like That" contains an interpolation of "I Like It Like That" (1988) by Salt-N-Pepa * The song "I Guess I like Like That" samples 2 Unlimited's "Get Ready For This" written by Phil Wilde, Jean-Paul de Coster and Ray Slijngaard * In the 2015 UK re-release of "Let's Get to It", Wild and de Coster were credited as co-authors of the song (Stock/Waterman/Minogue/DeCoster/Wilde). *"Right Here, Right Now" is entirely unrelated to the better-known song of the same name Kylie recorded in 2015. Release formats * CD — containing the 10-track album. * CD Japanese edition — 10-track album featured an exclusive booklet containing pictures from the Rhythm of Love promotional shoots with an all-new artwork and a bonus 3" CD. * Special edition released in 2015, includes eight bonus tracks with 24-page booklet that contains "full lyrics, new sleeve notes and classic images." Like their fourth album, this one also features CDVU+ technology that includes more than 30 pages of bonus features with an exclusive video performance, 60 printable photos, complete album lyrics, downloadable graphics, and hidden links. In addition, the packaging of the album is made from 100% recycled materials. Charts Certifications Personnel Credits adapted from the liner notes of Let's Get to It. Let's Get To...The Videos |last_album = (1990) |this_album = (1991) |next_album = (1992) }}A video was released following the album titled Let's Get To...The Videos. It included four music videos from Minogue's previous album Rhythm of Love, two music videos from Let's Get to It, and exclusive behind the scenes footage. It was released in VHS and Laserdisc| format. The behind the scenes footage was included in Kylie's DVD Greatest Hits 87-97. Track listing Category:Albums Category:Studio albums Category:Let's Get to It Category:PWL Category:1991